Man found guilty in rape and torture of woman

STOCKTON - A 38-year-old Stockton man was found guilty Tuesday of torture and other charges for breaking his former girlfriend's back at his home last year and raping and beating her.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - A 38-year-old Stockton man was found guilty Tuesday of torture and other charges for breaking his former girlfriend's back at his home last year and raping and beating her.

The jury seated before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge William Murray Jr. found Antoine Slaughter guilty on six charges that include rape, domestic violence and false imprisonment. A prosecutor said the crime was motivated by Slaughter's desire for power and control.

San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Michael Mulvihill said the woman and Slaughter had dated for more than a year, but they had split up a couple of months before he asked the woman, now 21, to visit him on March 10, 2006, at his Buckner Court home near Interstate 5. After she arrived, Slaughter took her into the garage and accused her of dating his cousin, Mulvihill said.

Slaughter held her overnight, beating her with a baseball bat, a bed rail and a vacuum handle; he body-slammed and raped her, Mulvihill said.

Once a jogger and basketball player, the woman was lucky to avoid paralysis, but her physical activity is limited, Mulvihill said.

"He may get his life sentence, but her life has been destroyed in many ways," Mulvihill said, adding that the woman has two rods and 13 permanent screws in her back. "He was just mad at her."

Slaughter's defense attorney Timothy Quinn said a date has not been set for his client's sentencing. Quinn declined to comment on the case or the jury's verdicts, preferring instead to communicate with Slaughter's family.

"If any relatives of Mr. Slaughter who haven't talked to him read the article," Quinn said, "I just ask that they go visit him at the jail."